Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-01-01

confessed scamps than there IL in that calm,
respectable recognition that you and I, dear
reader, exhibit whom we happen to Oppose
each other with our respective virtues.
"And yen get the appalei"
~ will"
And he didl And by a singular coincidence
got the district attorneyship also. And
with a deed for one-half of the "Red
Rock rancho" in his pocket sent brother
lawyer in court to appear for his client, the
United States, as against himself, Roscom-
mon, Garcia, ct al. Wild horses could not
have torn him from this noble resolution.
There is an indescribable delicacy in the legal
profession which we literary folk ought to
initiate
The United States lostl Which meant ruin
and destruction to the "Blue Mass Company
who had bought from paternal and benef-
cent government lands which didn't belong to
it. The Mexican grant, of course, antedated
the occupation of the mine by Concho, Wiles,
Pedro, ct al, as we'll as by the "Blue Mas
Company" and the solitary partners, Biggs
and Thatcher. More than that, it swallowed
ND their improvements. It made Biggs and
Thatcher responsible to Garcia for all tho
money the grand master of avarice had made
out of it. Mr. District Attorney was ap-
parently distressed, but resigned Mesrs.
Biggs and Thatcher wore really distressed and
combative.
And then, to advance few years in this
chronicle, began real litigation with earnest
ness, vigor, courage, zeal and belief on the
part of Biggs and Thatcher, and technicali-
ties, delay, equivocation and general
Fabian-like policy ON the part Of Garcia,
Roscommon, ct al. OF all these tedious pro
cesses note hut one, which for originality
and audacity Of conception appears to me to
indicate more clearly the temper and civiliza-
ton Of the epoch. A subordinate officer of
the district court refused to obey the maA-
date ordering q transcript Of the record to b
sent up to the United States supreme court.
It is to be regretted that the name of this
Epl.ssian youth, who thus fred tho dome Of
our constitutional liberties, should have
been otherwise so unimportant as to
be confined to the dusty records Of
that doubtful court Of which he was
a doubtful servitor, and that his daim
to immortality ceased with his double-feed
service. But there stiI1 stands on record .
letter by this young gentleman, arraigning
the legal wisdom Of the land, which Is not en-
tirely devoid Of amusement or even instruc.
ton to young men desirous Of obtaining pub.
icity and capital. Howbeit, the supreme
court was obliged to protect itself by procur-
ing the legislation of his functions out of IT.
local fingers into the larger palm Of its own
attorney.
These various processes Of law and equity,
which, when exercised practically in the. A.
fairs of ordinary business, might have occu-
pied few months time, dragged, clung, 70.
trograded, or advanced slowly during .
period of eight or nine years. But the strong
arms of Biggs and Thatcher held possession,
and possibly, by the same tactics employed
on the other side, arrested or delayed eject
ment, and so made and sold quicksilver. willis
their opponents were spending gold, until
Biggs, sorely hit in the interlacing Of his AZ
NOR, fell in the Lists, his cheek growing
waxen and his strong arm feeble, and finding
himself in this sore condition, and passing, -
it were, made over his share In trust to his
comrade and died. Whereat, fIbm that time
henceforward, Royal Thatcher reigned In his
stead
And 90, having anticipated tie legal record,
We win 60 back to the various human In
terests that helped to make It up.
To begin with Roscommon: To Do
fustice to his later conduct and ex-
preston, 1t must be remembered that
when hs accepted the claim for the
"Red Rock rancho" yet unquestioned, from
the hands Of Garcia, he was careless, or ct
least unsuspicious of fraud. II was not until
he had experienced the intoxication Of litiga-
tisn that he felt, somehow, that he was .
wronged and defrauded man, but with the
obstinacy Of defrauded men, preferred to ar.
raign some one fact or individual as the Inn
pelling cause of his wrong, rather than tho
various circumstances that led to it. To this
simple mind it was made patent that the
"Blue Mass Company" were making money
out of mine which he claimed, and which
was not yet adjudged to them Every dollar
they took out was fresh count in this gen.
eral Indictment. Every delay towards this
adjustment Of rights-although made by his
own lawyer-was personal wrong The
mere fact that there never was nor had been
any quid pro quo for this immense property
that it had fallen to him for mere song
only added Eest to his struggle The possibility
Of his losing this mere speculation affected
him more strongly than II be had already
paid down the million he expected to get from
the mine. don't know that I have indicated
as plainly a. I might that universal prefer.
ence on the part Of mankind to get something
from nothing, and to acquire the largest ~
turn for the least possible expenditure, but
question my right to say that Roscommou
was much more reprehensible than his fel.
lows.
But it told upon him a. It did upon
all over whom the spirit Of the mur.
dered Concho brooded-upon all whom
avarice alternately Aattered and tortured
From his quiet gains in his legitimate
business, from the little capital accumu-
lated through industry and economy, he Law.
ished thousands on this chimera Of his fancy.
He grew grizzled and worn over his self-im-
posed delusion; he no longer jested with his
customers, regardless Of quality or station or
importance; he had cliques to mollify, enemiee
to placate, friends to reward. The grocery
suffered; through giving food and lodgment
to ocloudsof unimpeachable witnesses before the
land commission and the district court, "MrA
Ros," found herself losing money. Even The
bar failed; there was party Of 'Blue Mass"
employees who drank at the opposite fonda,